The seat of former financial adviser, Bert van Manen, is the tightest contest of the eight seats in doubt that will determine the outcome of the Federal Election.
van Manen has been a strong supporter of the adviser perspective during the controversial Life Insurance Framework debate and, as we go to print, he trails his Labor opponent, Des Hardman, by 104 votes in his Queensland seat of Forde. This margin currently makes Forde the closest-run contest of the eight seats still in doubt and its retention is critical for the Coalition if it is to reach the 76-seat majority it seeks to govern in its own right.
From his position on the back-bench, van Manen has represented alternative arguments to his Parliamentary Cabinet colleagues in support of a more favourable outcome for financial advisers.
…the LIF legislation… does not deliver any substantive consumer protections
In March, van Manen said in Parliament that he would not be supporting the LIF legislation because it would inflict damage on independent financial advisers and also because he believes the legislation in its current form “…does not deliver any substantive consumer protections”, even though consumer protection is enshrined as a primary objective of the bill.
Mainstream political wisdom is suggesting that van Manen will ultimately retain his seat by the narrowest of margins, given the historical distribution of postal votes for the sitting member in Forde.
If van Manen does prevail, the Coalition still faces an up-hill battle to secure its 76-seat majority. While there may well be more surprises to come in one of the closest elections ever, the most likely outcome at present is that the Coalition will win more seats than Labor, but will fall just short of the magic number of 76 seats it needs for its cherished majority in the House of representatives.
Riskinfo will report further developments as they emerge, as the doubt and uncertainty surrounding the future of life insurance advice in Australia continues.
Bert is probably the only politician in Canberra that is fully aware of the flaws in the LIF Legislation, has a great knowledge of our Industry and was the only one who stood up in Parliament to speak out against the LIF deficiencies and in support of advisers.
Let us hope he wins, as Canberra is a vacuum that seems to suck in a plethora of muck and little else that has true integrity.
And Bert has hit the front! Go you good thing
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